


Make A Wish

by Starley (eliasdarcychere)



Series: Crushes and Wishes: a high school au [1]
Category: Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, free-write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliasdarcychere/pseuds/Starley
Summary: "All you have to do is close your eyes and make a wish. And when the bracelet breaks in two, your wish will come true."orCloud has a wish, a simple wish.
Relationships: Bartz Klauser/Cloud Strife
Series: Crushes and Wishes: a high school au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792285
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	Make A Wish

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a cute writing piece, which is based on this mini Clartz fan comic on Pixiv. I found the mini fan comic to be so adorable and decided to expanded on it. It's really nothing serious. Writing it put me in a better mood; I have been so down for the past couple of days.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this work. I'm not too confident in writing anything relating to romance and love. I'm an amateur at best! I'm trying and practicing to get better at this along with other skills!
> 
> Forgive me for any spelling and grammar mistakes. Please forgive me if any of the characters seems to be out of character. I suck!
> 
> All the characters used in this story belong to Square Enix.

It starts with a favor, happens on a rainy day.

Cloud is walking home from fencing practice when he sees Aerith not too far from the school building. She is upset that her umbrella is broken by the wind. He tries to offer her his umbrella, saying that a little rainwater won’t hurt him, but she refuses. Instead, Aerith giggles, saying that they will share the umbrella while he walks her home. Cloud agrees; he likes that idea better.

Aerith tells him that he’s like her personal bodyguard. Cloud thinks he’s just being nice.

The next day, Aerith is waiting for him by his locker with the biggest smile on her face.

“Cloud, you got a sec?” She asks.

“Sure, what is it?”

“I wanted to thank you for yesterday.” Aerith sighs, shaking her head. “I could’ve been soaking wet if you didn’t show up.”

Cloud shrugs his shoulders and says. “It’s okay. I’m glad I was able to help.”

“Yes, very!” She says in glee. “Well, anyway, give me your left hand.”

“Okay...” Cloud holds out his left hand to her and watches Aerith as she wraps a bracelet around his wrist. “What is this?”

“My way of saying thank you,” Aerith answers, tidying up the ends of the bracelet, making sure the bracelet is safe and secure, not too tight on him. “It’s a wish bracelet.”

“A wish bracelet?”

Aerith hums in agreement. “I made it with a little magic. All you have to do is close your eyes and make a wish. And when the bracelet breaks in two, your wish will come true.” She then stands on her tiptoe and meets his eyes. It takes Cloud by surprise and Aerith is curious as she says. “Surely, you have a wish. You look like you do.”

Cloud looks down at the bracelet. It’s a pretty bracelet; yellow and white with a star-shaped charm attached to it. He toys with the charm. “A wish, huh…” He mumbles, closing his eyes. And, Cloud starts thinking. He thinks of his friend, Bartz. He thinks of his brown eyes, his smile, his easy-going personality. Cloud thinks everything about Bartz is pleasant and Cloud can always be himself around him. He has a wish, a simple wish…

“Ah, I see!” Aerith cuts him off from his thoughts, the smile on her face grows bigger.

“No! It’s not like that!” He groans, trying to remain calm, tries to shake off the fuzzy feeling he feels inside. He knows he looks like a mess right now. And Aerith is enjoying every second of it!

“Sure!” She says, not buying his response. She moves over a little to the side and kisses his right cheek. “You’re so cute, Cloud! Good luck!” With that, she turns around and heads off, leaving Cloud even more flustered.

***

“That’s a nice bracelet you got there, Cloud,” Bartz says as he takes his usual seat across from him, joining him and his cousin, Lightning, at the table. Bartz’s friends, Zidane and Squall, take their seats as well; Zidane’s on Bartz’s right and Squall’s on Bartz’s left. It’s a lunchtime routine they all follow after they became friends two years ago in their first year of school.

“Thanks. Aerith gave it to me as a way of saying thanks for walking her home yesterday. She says it’s a wish bracelet.”

“So, it grants wishes?” Zidane asks, breaking his sandwich in half.

Cloud nods and swallows. “Just one wish, though.”

Zidane makes a face at that, whines a little bit about “just one wish” and continues to eat his sandwich.

Lightning reaches for Cloud’s wrist and toys with the star-shaped charm. “Interesting…” She muses, her fingers twirl around the charm. “Did she tell you how it works?”

“Yeah, how does it work?” Bartz adds in. Zidane looks on in curiosity. And Squall continues to eat his lunch; he doesn’t talk much, that’s how he always is, but Cloud thinks Squall is curious as well.

“Yeah, she did. I just close my eyes, make a wish, and wait for the bracelet to break in two. Once it does, my wish will come true.”

“That’s really neat, Cloud,” Bartz says and smiles at him. “So, did you make a wish yet?”

And the fuzzy feeling is back, and Cloud starts to feel warm. “Yes…” He trails off, looks down at the bracelet on his wrist. Lightning has already let go of her grasp on his wrist as she goes back to eat her salad. The bracelet looks like it is shining as he looks upon it. Cloud has a hard time wondering if the shine means his wish is starting to come true or it is just a trick of light and Cloud is just imagining things. He shrugs. “But I doubt it will come true.”

Bartz tilts his head and frowns. “Huh, why not?”

“Just because…” Cloud sighs. He can’t say it, not in front of his friends, and especially not in front of Bartz. He and Bartz are just friends, nothing more. He is certain of that.

***

When he is fencing, Cloud feels alive; his head is less cluttered as there’s no need to think, he is relaxed. He stays a little longer than normal to practice since he has an important match with his longtime rival, Sephiroth, coming up soon. And he wants to win. The only thing Cloud has to think about is a strategy and a game plan. Here with the épée in his hand, he doesn’t have to think about anything else, especially doesn’t have to think about his wish and feelings.

He pivots his foot and strikes the dummy in the target point. Content, Cloud takes off his mask, wipes the sweat from his forehead. Then, there’s the sound of clapping in the distance, and Cloud turns towards it. He feels face starting to burn up. It’s Bartz; he’s sitting on one of the bleachers before getting up to walk towards him. Cloud quickly grabs his bottled water, drinks enough to calm himself down.

“How long have you been sitting there? I thought you left already” Cloud says once Bartz is close enough to him.

Bartz scratches the back of his head. “Not too long, probably about five minutes or so. You look really amazing practicing, it’s almost as if you are dancing.”

“Oh. Thank you. And why are you still here? You didn’t leave with the others?”

“I really didn’t feel like going home just yet.” Bartz doesn’t look at him when he says. Cloud doesn’t comment about it; he knows Bartz will talk about it when he’s ready. Instead and surprisingly so, Cloud says.

“I’m going to spend the night at Light’s house. My aunt invited me over for dinner. Do you want to join me?”

“You are sure?”

Cloud nods. “I doubt my aunt, Light or Serah will mind.”

“Okay, then.” He then smiles. “It works out for me! I know you have an important match coming up, so I wanted to walk you home once you were done. Guess now, I can walk you to your cousins’ house.”

And Cloud is finding it awfully hard to keep himself calm. He feels flustered and fuzzy. “Thank you.” He stammers. “I’ll be right back; I’m going to wash up and change.”

“Alrighty! I’ll wait for you by the door.”

Cloud hums in agreement and goes on his way to the locker room.

***

Bartz is exactly where he says he will be when Cloud leaves the lockers. Bartz waves his hand and Cloud waves back.

“Ready?” Bartz says.

“Yes, thanks for staying behind.”

“Anytime, I’ll always be there for you.”

They are walking now. They are chatting about anything that comes up from television shows to the latest update in their lives. To Cloud, it feels nice and relaxing. These are the moments he really enjoys about being around Bartz; he makes him feel comfortable -despite the fuzzy feeling bubbling up inside- he knows he can always be himself around him.

“Even though you don’t think so, I really hope your wish will come true, Cloud,” Bartz says after a while, changing the topic of the conversation.

Cloud is quiet; he bits down on his bottom lip and looks up at the sky. It looks like it’s going to rain and how fitting that is. This begins on a rainy day and maybe might end on one. Cloud hopes so too;  _ “it would be nice” _ he wants to say to Bartz, but he doesn’t. He’s too shy to, so he just hums instead.

“Did you notice anything different with it?” Bartz asks.

Cloud lifts up his left hand and observes the bracelet on his wrist. Bartz leans in closer to observe as well. The star-shaped charm shines just like it did before during lunchtime. Then, quick as a flash of light, the charm stops shining and the thread snaps in half, falling to the ground below.

At that moment, Cloud swears he can feel his soul leaving his body, eyes widening ever so slightly at the now broken bracelet. No! He’s nervous; he’s shaky. His wish is going to come true and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s not ready, he needs more time!

It’s too late because the next thing he knows is that Bartz is kissing him. The kiss is short, but to Cloud, it’s more than enough; it’s all he ever dreamed of.

Bartz opens his eyes to see Cloud all red and flustered. He then grins from ear to ear and says. “Has your wish been granted, Cloud?” 

Cloud stays quiet; he couldn’t speak, too flustered and shocked to. His face is bright and red. Bartz finds it to be adorable. Then, Cloud opens his mouth to speak. “Why did it have to be so sudden?!” He exclaims and with that, Cloud rests his head on Bartz’s shoulder and zones out.

Bartz holds on to him so Cloud doesn’t fall over. Oh, how is he going to explain this to Light?!


End file.
